Basin home prices up overall
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 weeks, 2 days AGO
This Moses Lake home was listed for $420,000 Wednesday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | October 2, 2026 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — Home prices were up across most of the Columbia Basin in August, the latest month for which information was available, compared to a year earlier, according to data from the real estate website Redfin.
The median price of a home in Quincy was $406,658 in August 2026, an increase of 11.3% from August 2026. Ephrata saw an increase of 13.8% to $369,755, and Moses Lake posted a modest increase of 3.1% to $362,760. Othello’s median home price, however, was down 27.2% year-over-year, finishing at $256,200 in August 2026.
The largest increase in Grant County came in the western part of the county, which includes Desert Aire, Mattawa, Quincy, George and Crescent Bar, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. That region’s median home price leapt from $399,000 to $552,000, a jump of 38.35%. The area northwest of Moses Lake, including the Larson Community, Big Bend Community College and the Port of Moses Lake, also saw an increase in home prices, jumping 25.89% from $297,340 to $374,323. Homes in northern Grant County, from state Route 28 to the Grand Coulee Dam, dropped in price by 18.18% to $270,000, according to NWMLS.
Seven homes were sold in Othello in August 2026, a 48.7% decrease from August 2025, according to Redfin’s data. Ephrata home sales were down year-over-year by 6%, and in Quincy by 16.1%. Moses Lake home sales remained virtually unchanged, dropping a mere 0.71%.
Grant County’s sales were highest in the western part of the county, with 17 closed sales in August 2026, but that still represents a 19.05% decrease from a year earlier when 21 homes were sold in that area.
Months of inventory, or the amount of time it would take to sell all properties on the market, were up almost 10% in Grant County between August 2025 and August 2026, according to the NWMLS data. Adams County had 8.3 months of inventory compared to 5.4 a year earlier, except for the Othello area, which had seven months’ worth of inventory.
The average 30-year fixed-mortgage interest rate reached its highest point of the year so far, at 7.03% on Sept. 24, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago at this time the rate was 6.30%.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
SR 24 closed after bus-semi collision
MATTAWA — A collision between a semi and a passenger bus sent at least 11 people to the hospital and has closed state Route 24 about 13 miles east of Mattawa, according to a statement from the Washington State Patrol. The bus was transporting workers and was not a school bus, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. The collision occurred a little before 7 a.m. Thursday at the intersection of SR 24 and Road 24 Southwest, according to the WSP. The exact number of injured and the extent of their injuries was not immediately available. The injured parties were taken to different local hospitals, according to the GCSO.
High interest rates slow home sales
MOSES LAKE — Housing inventory reached a 12-year high in September in Washington, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 27 of Washington’s 39 counties. There were 24,955 listings in the NWMLS service area, the most for any month since September 2014, and a 24.5% increase from September 2025. In Grant County, the jump from a year ago wasn’t as sharp, only 12.18% over last year, and Adams County barely shifted, from 53 a year ago to 55 in September 2026. (For NWMLS statistical purposes, the Othello area is grouped with Grant County; Adams County figures are exclusive of Othello.)
Moses Lake Chamber honors community leaders, passes the gavel at annual meeting
MOSES LAKE — Kent Karstetter was elected to Ag Hall of Fame, much to Kent's surprise, and retiring State Senator Judy Warnick received a special award in honor of her service to the community at the 85th annual Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce banquet Tuesday. Chamber Director Debbie Doran-Martinez introduced Warnick for the award. Warnick was the Chamber’s first female chair in 1990. “Sen. Warnick has always been a strong supporter of the Chamber, of our agricultural roots and our expanding industries,” Doran-Martinez said. “Tonight, we thank you for all you have done to cultivate and grow our community, our economy and our quality of life that we enjoy.”